Date: May 31st 2008

May 30, 2008

Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1761 sonja r alexander@nasa gov

Keith Henry Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va 757-864-6120 h k henry@nasa gov

RELEASE: 08-135

NASA LUNAR ART CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

HAMPTON, Va -- A fanciful vision of a lunar traffic jam won the first annual NASA Lunar Art Contest sponsored by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va

A work by Justin Burns, a sophomore at the University of Memphis, depicts a cartoon-like motorcyclist on her air cushioned bike leading a long line of traffic in a tube stretching across the otherwise barren lunar landscape A city under a dome stands in the background

"The Lunar Art contest allows students from the creative arts disciplines to become involved and excited about the nation's space exploration program It also enables us to see the future from very different and important perspectives," said Richard Antcliff, director of Langley's Advanced Planning and Partnership Office

A total of 26 college and high school students from around the country entered the contest with paintings, posters, design packages, and sculpture Judges rated the art on the basis of originality, creativity, artistic elements, and if the concept was valid for harsh lunar conditions The contest encouraged university and high school art and design students to partner with science and engineering departments to create art representative of living and working on the moon

The goal is for students in arts, science and engineering to collaboratively engage in NASA's mission to return humans to the moon by 2020, and eventually journey on to Mars and other destinations in the solar system Such collaboration may generate new ideas for living and working in extra-terrestrial environments, resulting in more successful long-duration space missions

The top four college-level and top two high school-level entries will be exhibited this summer at Langley, the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Va , and at NASA Headquarters in Washington The entries also will be posted on the NASA website

Second place in the college group went to "A busy day on the moon," by Johnathan Culpepper, a senior at Medgar Evers College in the City University of New York Lann Brumlik and Corey DiRutigliano, a team of graduate design students from University of Cincinnati, earned third place for their poster "Enabling Exploration " Ellen Ladwig, a fine arts major from University of Missouri, took fourth place for an oil painting she calls "Perseid Meteor Shower on a Newly Terra-Formed Moon "

High school students Asa Shultz from Virginia and William Zhang from California tied for first place in the high school group Shultz is a home-schooled senior enrolled in Covenant Academy who lives in Forest, Va Zhang is a sophomore who attends Skoldberg Art Academy in San Diego

The contest was co-sponsored by Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va The university provided small cash awards for top prizes, and the NASA Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W Va , provided a Web site to support the contest

For information about other NASA education programs, visit:

http://artcontest larc nasa gov

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov

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